Manufacture of electrical conductors



(No Model.) v T. J. MGTIGHB.

MANUFAGTURE OP ELEGTBIGALUONDUGTORS.

No. 246,407. Patented Aug. 30,1881.

' WIT/H5555: i .INI/ENTOR f ATTORNEY N. PETERS. Phumlnhngnpher. wnehingmn D. C.

NITE-s STATES PATENT OFFICE.,

MANUFACTURE OF ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS. n

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 246,407, dated August 30, 1881.

Application filed July 13, 1881.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THoMAs J. MGTIGHE, of Pittsburg, in the count-y of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Electrical Conductors; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference beinghad to theaccompanyingdrawings,which form a part of this specification, in which- Figurelshows in section the strips and wires ready to be united. Fig. 2 shows the rolls compressing the strips on the wires. Fig. 3 shows the cross-section of the completed conductor. Fig. 4 is an elevation showing the manner of continuous production.

This invention has for its object the economical production of insulated and protected electrical conductors, and is especially designed for the production of underground-telegraph conductors.

The invention is based on the principles now well known and practiced in the manufacture of lead pipe-namely, that clean lead in a warm state may be separated and reunited perfectly by the application of pressure.

It consists in producing by drawing, pressing, or rolling two correspondingly-corrugated strips of lead, placing in the corrugations of one a series of insulated wires, and then forcing the two strips together under pressure so as to unite them, thus completely incasing the insulated wires in a flexible and durable material, and doing it in a manner which permits of great facility in making very long lengths of conductor, requiring but few joints.

The invention further consists in the apparatus hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, a designates a strip ofsheet or milled lead, corrugated longitudinally; or it may be corrugated by pressing it through a suitable die, afterthe manner of forming lead pipe. 'b is a similar strip inverted. Wires c, covered with silk, cotton, kerite, or other insulating material, are laid in the grooves el or corrugations of the strips a b, by which means the wires are guided absolutely and prevented from all possible contact with each other. Then the strips a b, with the wires c, are passed between suitably corrugated or grooved rolls RR', as in Fig. 2, which exert a powerful com- (No model.)

pression and unite the `adjacent: faces of the strips. I prefer corrugated rolls, as shown but they may be plain cylindrical rolls, in which case l would make the preparatory strips a, b grooved on one side only and lia-t on the exterior.

By the above process the two strips a b may be of great length without in the slightest interfering with the successful production of the finished article. This will be better understood by referring to Fig. 4. Here WV represents a series of reels ofinsulated wire, lw, which pass to a guiding-roll, r. .Beyond this are situated the consolidating-rolls R It. The two corrugated or grooved lead strips a b converge to the rolls R It', where they receive the wires 1o in their grooves, and the complete cable cr group of conductors emerge on the other side solid and continuous, requiring no additional steps to complete it. To facilitate the production it would he preferable to manufacture the grooved strips a b, and while they emerge from the press or rolls which produce them, and while still warm and unoxidized, to lead them directly into the rolls R It.

Instead ot' the rolls R R', a suitably-shaped draw-plate77 may be employed.

I am aware that insulated conductors have heretofore been inserted in metallic pipes, both flexible and rigid, and I do not therefore claim such, as my invention is widely different.

I claim as my invention- 1. The method of manufacturing insulated andprotected electrical conductors, consisting in first producinglongitudinally grooved or corru gated strips of lead, then inserting insulated conductors in the grooves, and finally subjecting the whole to pressure, substantially as described.

2. The method of manufacturing insulated and protected electrical conductors, consisting in simultaneously drawing two separate longitudinally-grooved lead strips and interposed insulated electrical conductors through a suitable compressor, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoingl as- `my own I have hereto affixed my signature in presence oftwo witnesses.

THOMAS' J. MGTIGHE.

Witnesses:

THOMAS S. OCoNNoR, THOMAS J. PATTERSON.

IOO 

